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I Forge Iron

aditya

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    India
  • Interests
    Music, Audio engineering, photography, blacksmithing(recent involvement), astronomy, anything DIY etc.

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  1. Lots of thanks for all those replies. About the swastika symbol.....its a very common thing here in India, and it is used as a lucky charm for prosperity. This practice has been there since the Vedic days, meaning more than 8/9 thousand years earlier (unfortunately all the records are missing somehow). So please don't link it up with the anvil as being a historical piece. Here the swastika symbol means that it was an Indian manufacturer who got the work order from the railways to supply them. But railways steel specs are special and is not available openly for others to use without special permission. Thus this supplier got the permission to use the special grade steel, imported from Germany. Now either it was cast in India, or in Germany, and then supplied to the railways. This part I am still not sure. However I am really happy to have got this piece of real beauty. Just to see it parked there is so reassuring.
  2. Yes, it is an unused anvil. Actually it was manufactured for the railways forge shops of the steam engine era to build/repair loco parts, but the forge-shop for which it was procured never took off, and was kept closed. Finally the whole shop was auctioned off. My local scrap dealer got it along with lots of other scrap materials. Regarding the make issue....what I know is that all of the railways forging tools etc used to be manufactured by Germany as per the specs provided by the railways. About rebound....its fantastic. Ring is of the typical high grade steel type and very musical, I mean the high frequency notes are plentiful. Actually as the anvil is not yet mounted (I am waiting for the wood block to arrive), every once in a while I just go to my work-room to hear the ring.... :D It rings almost the same at all the places. It seems to be really very good quality steel. The little bit of sparking that it gave while wire brushing the base were very indicative of the steel quality. I just forgot to add that, I am writing from India. I have also updated the same in my profile. Thanks to all.
  3. Hi friends, Got a big cast-steel (tool grade) anvil. It is of 306 kg weight. Here are some pictures.
  4. You are taking it literaly. Actually if you see the Bob design, you will realise it is almost like a foot-driven rusty/krusty style hammer without the power-assistance. With minimum mods, it can be converted. @Rob N If you want to spend less money, but also want to continue with your work, then you have to check out more things. Pls first get the feel of a treadle yourself, which is already suggested. Also see other real people at work, and from that assess your needs. If you must go for a treadle hammer, then I suggest the classic swinging-arm design. It will be very useful in lots of work, and also will be cheaper to build. Later you can go for a power hammer. Good luck in your journey.
  5. Based on your post, I will have two reasons to prefer the Bob design to the Clay one. The 1st reason will be sensitivity for doing soft work. The Clay inline design will lack it a bit, due to the chances of more lateral movement of the ram-head while forcing it down with the foot-pedal, causing the ram-slide to raise the frictional force in the slide. In the Bob design it will not be so. The 2nd reason for chosing the Bob one will be the ease of converting the same to a power hammer. Hope this helps. Aditya
  6. Yes you are right. It is a regular off-the-self product. I had not looked at the stickers well. I just could not believe that this can happen with a commercial product. It is true that these chinese things are always very much on the brink of their specs, meaning 12 tons means it is the peak loading. So continuous working load should be half of it. But here seeing the result I thought probabely the jack has been changed. Its surprising that these types of products are being sold !
  7. Yes....to answer the OP....the frame is not the appropriate one in case it is a self-built thing....
  8. Very well said..... These chinese jacks should be loaded max to 50% of the specified capacity. May be they are economical alternatives for once-in-while kind of things, but not at all suitable for any regular heavy duty process. Standard jacks cost around 3 to 4 times their costs, and it is not for nothing !
  9. Thanks everybody for the encouraging words....it surely soothes away the bruises & sprains aquired during the construction of this contraption. The top frame only weighed at 330 lbs. It is made up of 2"x3" solid steel (2 pcs of 1"x3" flats stacked). The biggest problem for me was drilling 16 nos of 1/2" holes at 4" depth. My drill's reach was only 2&1/2". And manipulating this weight was another problem. But I forget all these when I run it now. It runs really very smooth, and also seems to be quite powerful as well. At the moment I will first make all the needed toolings for it. Later will want to do some good patterned knives. I have never done any kind of smithing before. This is the first time in my life that I am doing all this. But forging and doing things with iron is so interesting ! There is so much of finer knowledge invlved in iron forging ! Will have to do lots of study and research in order to do it well. If anybody wants to have any queries about this press, you are most welcome. Thanks again Aditya.
  10. Thanks 'Bob S' for the kind words. The press can handle upto 4"x4" sizes. The gap is 8" max without any dies. In the pic the drawing dies are of 3-1/2" each. I used them for drawing a 3"x3"x1/4" piece of spring steel. It took me 10/11 heats to draw it to 7" long. I have also made a pair of flat & combo dies for other uses. As already mentioned, the speed is around 1/4" per second. Its not a blazing speed, but working with the press is quite comfortable. I have put foot control for closing & opening the dies, and thus both the hands remain free. As a result I am also able to use it for cutting, punching with tools I have made. Here is a photo of other dies.
  11. Hi everybody, This is my first post here. I am from the east coast of India, close to the 'Sun Temple'. I took to blacksmithing as a hobby since a year. Did quite a bit of research on the web for the needed guidance. Last March/April built a in-line treadle hammer, which came out very nice. To avoid noise pollution (I stay in an urban residential area) decided in favour of a press, and built one. This is a motorized hydraulic bottle jack press of 25 tonne capacity. The speed is around 6mm/sec. It is working very nicely. Also for practice sake, ended up making a chopper from leaf-spring steel. Have attached two photos. Hope it will be enjoyable for everybody. Aditya
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